Summary of Exploratory Research

FGD Transcripts Extracts:

FGD 1:
The FGD is conducted with a group of 2 students who are currently doing their Management
programme in IIM Indore. They, being students are very money conscious and try to seek value for
money in any product they would buy. They believe that the preference of smartphones is mainly
dependent on income group and they could even approximately estimate the price range each income
class would prefer to buy.
So mainly Price and Income group (lower class, middle class, upper middle class, and upper class) seem
to be important factors according to the participants of the FDG.

FGD 2:
The FGD is conducted with a group of students who are doing their Management programme in IIM
Indore. One of the participant is from a Urban place middle class family and other is from a rural place.
They said that they believed in buying a phone which is durable, lasting for at least 3 years. They also
mentioned that in today’s world internet has become very important in everybody’s life. Though there is
so much change in technology every day, they both still agree on fact that ‘calling’ is the most feature of
any phone and that what they care the most about. Last but not the least, one of the respondent said
RAM is also important because he thinks there are many app based services which are important for
people in everyday life.
So, Customer Geography (urban/rural), Durability, Call clarity and Internet seem to be most important
factors that affect the consumer buying behaviour for the participants of this FGD. RAM is a little less
important feature but still noteworthy.

FGD 3:
This FGD is conducted with a group of 4 management students of IIM Indore. They hail from different
geographies (UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala). Some were working before joining IIM Indore.
There were a variety of factors which influenced them. Some were price conscious but others were
quality and specification conscious. They said that they need some basic features from every phone like
android, 4G support, a decent Processor, Camera, Storage and RAM. The working guys emphasis on the
Screen Quality and the rigidness of it. Most of them, were from technical background, so they were a
little crazy for the specification they are getting from the smartphone. They emphasized on the speed of
the phone. They also talk about the value for money so, they wanted all the features of the high end
phone in the 10-15 thousand range. Colour of the phone doesn’t matters to them, but, at the same time
they don’t want their phone to look dirty so avoid the white colour. All of them were boys, so they
didn’t want to carry a pink coloured phone.
So, Speed, Rigidness, Price, Specification, Screen quality and colour are most important factors that
affect the customer preferences.

Depth Interviews Extracts:

Depth Interview 1:

In this interview, we interviewed Mohit, PGP participant. He described his experience about his
smartphone, he bought 2 months back. The first factor that he considers is value for money and a not
very expensive. He mainly uses his smartphone for WhatsApp, gaming other than basic usages. It
indicates the importance of specification of smart phone with respect to its processor, RAM and
multitasking. He also thinks camera as useful feature, as to click pics while hanging out with friends, or
on different occasions. Having a good camera in phone itself eliminates the trouble of carrying a camera.
This gives a insight about min mega pixel a phone’s front and back camera should have. As interested in
gaming and using apps for different purposes, he prefers android or windows OS over iOS. Other factor
style includes look of the phone round edges preferred over the square edges, optimum weight not too
heavy, compact and screen size of 4.5-5 inches. With a wide variety of mobile phones in market, that
already comes with 6 months to 1 year warranty, the user is not attached to a particular brand and is
ready to buy a smartphone which is trending irrespective of its brand. He also considers after sales
services an influencing factor. Consumer promotion is not very effective unless the features and
specifications of the phone is comparable with other phones.
Interviewee also shared his buying procedure which starts from searching the phone over internet,
shortlisting few. Then getting the reviews over the websites and from friends, peers colleagues etc. After
this, comparing the phones over the website with respect to specification, features and looks. Finally,
buying the phone online or from brick and mortar stores. He is not sceptical about buying phone online
as phones are under warranty for a year.
We get the insight that can be put in AIDA model
The website and online resources, word of mouth and ads creates the awareness.
Reviews, feedbacks from current owner of that smartphone creates the interest.
Comparing the phones with respect to specification and features creates desire.
Finally buying from online or offline stores is the action.

Depth Interview 2: The respondent is Ashutosh who is not much swayed by brands when it comes to
buying mobile phones. He wants durability and performance and latest features to be present in the
phone, he also keeps track of the latest updates on phones and wants the updated features in his phone
like front camera with a flash. He also believes in buying new brand phones like Mi if the market accepts
it and the brand has able to build trust. Reviews are an important criterion from friends and family as
they are more reliable source rather than online reviews. Weight of the phone does not play any
significant role in the buying decision.

Depth Interview 3:

In the third Depth interview the respondent describes her changing preferences for mobile phones
through a timeline beginning from her first experience till date. It indicates about a probable trend
followed in Indian families of passing on the phone to the child, which is becomes the first phone used
by an adolescent. In the next stage when a new phone was bought exclusively for the respondent the
criteria was to buy a trendy phone (QWERTY at that time), reliable brand and an economical phone
which is sturdy and easy on maintenance.
After a while when the respondent buys a new phone she is more concerned about the features of the
camera than ease of use. With an increased budget most emphasis on camera, followed by storage
capacity due to extensive academic requirements and applications, and lastly, followed by interface. The
respondent came to know about the phone through a newspaper advertisement. The final decision was
taken by going through the website which had an option of using a virtual phone, which gave her a
chance to test the phone without going to the store. Throughout the timeline ‘brand’ has been a
prerequisite for the respondent as she believes brand is correlated to quality. Also, the respondent is
not a fad follower and restrains from buying phones which are widely used as brings down the
exclusivity factor.

Variables of Interest:
From the FGDs and the DIs, the following Variables of Interest were Identified: Brand, Price, Operating
system, Market reviews, Income Group, Customer Geography, Features (Durability, Call clarity,
Internet, RAM, Battery life, Camera quality), Appearance, Durability, Sturdiness, After-sale Customer
service.

Given the constraints of research scope, we decided to constrain our research and questionnaire to the
primary Variable of Interests that featured most frequently in our FGDs and DIs. These Variables are:
a) Brand
b) Price
c) Operating System
d) Market Reviews